Definition of fess
: to own up : confess
—usually used with up
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Recent Examples of fess from the Web
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Those familiar with the process wouldn’t fess up to which tweets were staff-written.
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Jessica fishes around to see if any of her friends are getting similar threats, but no one fesses up.
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In the letters section, the book's creative team (Sebela, artist Robert Wilson IV and colorist Nick Filardi) all fessed up to their biggest crimes, and Sebela's was doing acid.
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That's laudably fast; remember, Uber took over a year to fess up to its data-theft woes.
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When cops arrived to Reed's home, Reed allegedly fessed up to making the threats.
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Upon learning of his wife’s trickery, Bradlee urged her to fess up.
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After keeping it a secret that Weaver had won the scholarship, Earnhardt finally fessed up to her in his office as her parents stood near.
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Messing up, then fessing up The aftermath of a scandal is unpredictable.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fess.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of fess
short for confess
Definition of fess
1
: a broad horizontal bar across the middle of a heraldic field
2
: the center point of an armorial escutcheon
Origin and Etymology of fess
Middle English fesse, from Anglo-French faisse band, from Latin fascia — more at fascia
NEW! Time Traveler
First Known Use: 15th century
in the meaning defined at sense 1
See Words from the same yearLearn More about fess
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See words that rhyme with fess Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about fess
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